Chapter 122
Chapter 122
Time was running out for Xu Qianqian. As the delivery date drew nearer, merchants from all over the world arrived one after another in Xuanwu City. The merchants from the Western Regions, in particular, had already paid their deposits. When they heard the Xu Clan’s workshop had burned down, their faces changed, worried that the clan would fail to deliver on time.
To reassure them, Xu Qianqian led them on a tour of the workshop. She first unveiled her secret weapon: the purple silk, dyed with the formula Shen Lang had given her. The merchants were utterly thrilled, staring at Xu Qianqian in disbelief.
“This purple silk is dyed with such a pure violet hue. It’s magnificent. It reminds me of the lavender fields back home. I can’t even begin to describe how many times more beautiful it is than the purple silks currently on the market. This is revolutionary. Once this purple silk hits the market, it will take the world by storm. All other purple silks will look like trash!”
“Miss Xu, did the Xu Clan truly research and develop this purple dye formula?”
“Of course!”
“The Xu Clan is brilliant. The value of a purple dye formula like this is so precious, it’s practically priceless.”
“The purple silk was just to give you all a little surprise. I still have an even greater secret weapon.”
The moment the covering was pulled away, the rainbow silk was revealed. As sunlight shone upon it, it looked as if a real rainbow was floating in the sky. The merchants were completely stunned, lost for words. They were utterly astounded by the rainbow silk.
“My goodness! A color like this… it doesn't seem man-made at all. Miss Xu Qianqian, it’s as if the Xu Clan stole a rainbow from the heavens. It must be so.”
“Countless women, even princesses and queens, will be madly captivated by this rainbow silk.”
“Miss Xu Qianqian, while it’s a great misfortune that your family’s workshop burned down, losing the workshop seems like nothing compared to obtaining these two formulas.”
“With just these two silks, the Xu Clan can rebuild an even larger workshop at any time. These silks will bring endless wealth to your clan. The Xu Clan will grow even more prosperous and become the foremost merchant family in the State of Yue.”
Hearing such words, Xu Qianqian’s gloomy mood completely vanished. She spoke in a gentle voice.
“The cost of the new dye formulas is very high. Therefore, the price of this purple and rainbow silk will be set quite high, several times more than ordinary silk.”
One of the merchants from the Western Regions smiled charmingly and said.
“Miss Xu, we won’t haggle over the price. We only ask how much stock we can secure.”
Following this, the merchants began to argue amongst themselves, offering more money to claim a larger share of the Xu Clan's new silks. Even though the silks weren't even finished yet, they were all sold out in a flash. Moreover, they were sold at a price several times higher than ordinary silk. Just from the deposits alone, Xu Qianqian collected fifty thousand gold coins. Xu Qianqian gazed toward the Count of Xuanwu's estate, her heart burning with endless hatred.
“Shen Lang, do you see this? My Xu Clan will overcome this crisis in no time. Our reputation for having the best silk has not been tarnished; in fact, we’ve earned even more money. And your Count of Xuanwu's estate is doomed to fall anyway! Shen Lang, I will wait for the day the Jin Clan is destroyed, and I will stomp on your corpse ten thousand times and spit on your grave!”
At the same time.
Shen Lang stood at the highest point of the Count of Xuanwu's estate.
“Husband, what are you looking at?”
“The Xu Clan will soon be annihilated. Wife, let us go!”
“Go where? To do what?”
“To find the way to break the invincible Meteor Sword Art from Beyond the Heavens!”
Shen Lang was by no means a man arrogant about his own abilities. Of course, he was arrogant in some areas, but that was a trait common to most people. In any case, Shen Lang maintained a humble attitude toward what he did not know. For instance, martial arts.
The martial arts of this world were completely different from those on Earth. They were unscientific, and he had no idea how many times stronger they were than Earth's martial arts. Of course, the people of this world couldn't fly, nor could they shatter a city gate with a single palm strike. The general level of martial arts was comparable to the settings in an ordinary martial arts novel. There was a dantian, internal energy, and true qi.
Furthermore, humanity in this world had not only unearthed ancient classics like the Four Books and Five Classics but had also discovered various martial arts manuals. Nearly all the martial arts manuals in this world had been passed down from ancient times.
There were many martial arts manuals within the Count of Xuanwu's estate, some of which were of a relatively high grade. As Shen Lang studied these manuals, he couldn't help but marvel. Some of these manuals were carved on soft jade or written on scrolls, while others were inscribed on bricks. Of course, these weren't actual brick fragments but special pieces of jade stone. A single brick was composed of over two hundred layers of jade slices, each merely an inch thick. Each slice was inscribed with several hundred characters and two or three illustrations, which thrilled Shen Lang.
‘Is this… is this an alternate world’s version of a hard drive? To think the people of ancient times inscribed manuals layer by layer inside jade stone. If I inscribed *Boundless Wind and Moon* like this, it could be passed down for over ten thousand years.’
No paper, silk, parchment, or wood could survive for tens of thousands of years. But a special jade piece like this could endure for ages. It was clear that the ancient humans had gone to great lengths to pass down their precious civilization to future generations. Even if later generations unearthed these jade pieces, it would take years of effort to transcribe the contents inscribed within, layer by layer, to create a thick martial arts manual. Only then could others read and learn from it.
Basically, no one could read the primitive brick-shaped manuals made of jade stone. To find a way to break the Meteor Sword Art, Shen Lang had completely buried himself in the estate’s library for some time. There, he read every classic and martial arts manual. His eyes became like cameras, spending one second per page, taking a picture, and storing it in the computer inside his brain. In just half a month, he had read every book in the estate's library. He paid particular attention to the works of his ancestor, Jin Zhu, who had possessed unbelievable abilities. Thanks to this, several hundred martial arts manuals were now stored in Shen Lang’s mind.
‘Wait a minute. Am I turning into a walking encyclopedia of martial arts, like one of those characters from the stories who knows every technique but can't fight herself? The kind who could see any move and instantly know how to counter it? This seems pretty good. If I read all the martial arts manuals in the world, then whenever my wife goes to fight, I can tell her the opponent's moves and how to break them before they even make a move.’
However, the database in Shen Lang's mind was still insufficient. Moreover, he hadn't found a way to break the Meteor Sword Art. There was a mention of this sword art in a book left by his ancestor, Jin Zhu. He had deliberately traveled to the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion to read the manual for the *Meteor Sword Art from Beyond the Heavens* and had even left his thoughts on it.
“This manual is extremely profound, divided into a front side and a reverse side. One yin, one yang, but I was utterly unable to decipher and analyze it. After gaining a slight understanding, I discovered that this martial art is not compatible with me and causes infertility.”
The Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion was one of the greatest martial arts libraries in the State of Yue. The *Meteor Sword Art from Beyond the Heavens* was like a treasure passed down through the pavilion, and everyone knew it was stored there. However, no one had ever mentioned that this manual had a reverse side, a yin and a yang. Furthermore, even a great figure like Jin Zhu had only analyzed the essence of the Meteor Sword Art, but could not devise a way to break it.
About a hundred years ago, a pair of geniuses appeared at the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion. The man and woman spent over a decade analyzing the *Meteor Sword Art from Beyond the Heavens* manual and transcribing it onto paper. From then on, this sword art, passed down from ancient times, appeared in the world as a learnable martial arts manual. Then, the geniuses left the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion with the manual.
Ten years later, the Sword King of the South Sea, who appeared like a comet, was the genius who had mastered this *Meteor Sword Art from Beyond the Heavens*. The woman who had analyzed the manual with him was plain-looking and unassuming, but she became his wife. However, in the memory of the world, there was only one *Meteor Sword Art from Beyond the Heavens*; no one had ever heard of a corresponding reverse sword art. It was always the man who killed their enemies, and people thought that he alone was the Sword King of the South Sea. But ancestor Jin Zhu's words sent Shen Lang's imagination racing.
Shen Lang boldly speculated that every generation of the Sword King of the South Sea was actually two people, a husband and wife. The husband would master the yang side of the sword art, displaying unparalleled skill to the world, while the wife would master the yin side of the sword art, solely to counter her husband. Later confirmed facts proved that Shen Lang's view was not wrong. Every generation of the Sword King of the South Sea was a live-in son-in-law who married the daughter of the previous Sword King. The Sword King of this generation was Li Qianqiu, who was Tang Yan's master, so this time was no exception.
Thirty years ago, Li Qianqiu entered Sword Island as a live-in son-in-law and married Qiu Yingying, the daughter of the previous Sword King of the South Sea. Thirteen years ago, his wife passed away, and Li Qianqiu became the new master of Sword Island and the new generation's Sword King of the South Sea.
Shen Lang speculated with malice. Li Qianqiu, wanting to be second to none, must have killed his wife. Thus, no sword art capable of defeating him existed in the world any longer. If Shen Lang's speculation was correct, there were two places where he could find the method to defeat the *Meteor Sword Art from Beyond the Heavens*.
The first was Li Qianqiu's wife, Qiu Yingying, but she was already dead. That left the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion. The original jade stone brick of the manual was probably there. It was like the most complex printed circuit board. Characters were inscribed inside layers of jade slices, not just one, but hundreds of layers… Unless one was a linguistic genius, it was impossible for an ordinary person to decipher the jade piece. Even a genius would probably need to spend over a decade to decipher just one piece.
But Shen Lang was different. He had X-ray vision and a computer for a brain, allowing him to scan the inside of the jade piece, decipher the contents written layer by layer, and store it in his mind. Shen Lang realized his hard drive was becoming more and more formidable.
Darkness fell. Shen Lang and Mulan mounted a single swift horse and headed south, toward the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion several hundred miles away. Shen Lang still didn't know how to ride a horse, so they had to share one. Moreover, he now felt secure only when he was in his wife's embrace on horseback.
* * *
Xu Qianqian was in a state of extreme excitement and anxiety every day. She personally oversaw every process in the workshop almost daily. Xu Guangyun was the same. Xu Qianqian watched over the weaving, while Xu Guangyun watched over the dyeing process.
“Are you sure there’s no problem with the dye? I’m asking if there’s a problem with the dye.”
Xu Guangyun must have asked the same question more than ten times. Because this formula came from Shen Lang. One could never be too suspicious of that bastard. But every time, the answer was the same.
“There is no problem with the dye.”
Even after prolonged exposure to sunlight and washing at high temperatures, the dyed silk showed no signs of fading. However, the deadline was too short, and time was incredibly tight.
Zhang Chunhua also paid a visit.
“Xu Qianqian, are you really going to dye all the silk purple and rainbow?”